aesar’s murder is probably the best known of eight prominent assassinations involving the use of a , quite apart from numerous attempts and suicides, such as that of Otho in AD 69. The phenomenon in fact extends beyond the most illustrious figures and even into the domestic setting. Yet the common denominator amongst literary examples is the involvement of a man who would have seen military service with the legions, hence the prominence of a military weapon. However, contrary to widely held modern misconceptions, the was not a sidearm consistently featuring in the panoply of all Roman legionaries, but appears to have been an optional weapon adopted by some legionaries in only specific theatres of war where such men would have had to have seen service.
